Stitch in Time

A Stitch in Time... Not Just Another Number

Responding to the challenge of memorialising people who have died during the Covid-19 pandemic - from a Covid-19 death or not - The Loss Project is inviting people to commemorate the lives of their loved ones through creativity/ craft/ art and storytelling.

At present, there is little being written about the lives of the people who have died during this pandemic. By focussing on the numbers, and emphasising this disease rather than any others, we keep the focus on the story on these people’s deaths, rather than their lives.

We also know that due to restrictions, many funerals are taking place digitally, with a handful of family members or not at all. This means that many of us are not able to have the space for ritual during our bereavement.

We think that there must be other ways of celebrating these individuals and their stories.

How can we change the headline from the story of their death, to the story of their lives?

We are encouraging people to remember a person they know who has died during this pandemic period (regardless of if the death was Covid-19 related or not), by stitching, sewing, drawing or painting their full name onto a square of fabric. We will also be inviting people to write an accompanying page about that person, including text and images.

We aim (lockdown permitting) to hold a public event later this year, which would allow all contributors to come together and display this collective piece of work, as well as share the stories of these people’s lives with others. We want this to be exhibited to the public too; a space where we can all find solace in stories of lives when coming to terms with the scale of the grief we’re all experiencing.

We’re interested in planning the event together with participants and, in the interim, will also be sharing images of the artwork created, and the accompanying biographies, on our website and social media channels.

We hope that this helps to provide a quiet, personal as well as public way to remember people and their stories so that they don’t end up as just a number.

[Suggested size A5]

Author: Steph Turner